


and i was gone, baby, gone

by dreamydays1



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cameo By- Lee Suhyun, F/M, Genderswap, Side Yoo Kihyun/Son Hyunwoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2018-12-23 23:05:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11999817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamydays1/pseuds/dreamydays1
Summary: All things considered, Hoseok’s life could be a lot worse.  Yeah, moving sucks, going to a new school sucks, spending all summer working sucks, but it’s notawful.Or, Hoseok moves to a new city and meets the girl of his dreams.  Which he has absolutely no idea how to handle.  Throw in a new school and a new group of friends, and he really has his work cut out for him.





	1. you had me at hello

**Author's Note:**

> After a bit of thought, I've decided to continue this work as one story, instead of posting a new work for every single one. From now on, I'll continue posting updates to this series to this fic. The first three chapters will be reposts of the existing works, and after that, it will be all new content. For housekeeping purposes, I deleted the old works and re-located them here. I'm sad to lose the comments and kudos I already got, but it's less confusing this way :c Thank you for sticking with me through the transition!

All things considered, Hoseok’s life could be a lot worse.

Yeah, moving sucks, going to a new school sucks, spending all summer working sucks, but it’s not _awful_. The coffee shop his mom bought is nice, it’s located in a great part of town, his brother is in a good mood and therefore is being less of a pill than usual, and since they don’t live in the stone age, he can at least keep in contact with his friends online. All the dramas he's watched and books he’s read would lead him to believe that moving as a teenager would be the worst event of his young life thus far, but really, annoying is more the word he’d use over life ruining.

It’s summer when they arrive, which is probably the worst part of the whole thing. Their apartment’s A/C doesn’t work, so it's sweltering the day they move in, and he definitely drops a box on his brother’s foot on purpose when he asks what the point of having all those muscles is if he complains the whole time they’re carrying stuff into the apartment. Whatever. At least they aren’t sharing a room anymore.

Additionally, since it's summer, he doesn’t have anything better to do yet (there’s no school, so there’s been no opportunities to meet people and therefore he has no social life), Hoseok has been helping out at the coffee shop more than he’s expected to. His mom shoos him off every so often, but she likes having him around, and he likes _being_ around. It’s only a year or so until he goes to university, so he wants to spend as much time with his family as he can.

Which is why he’s spending his Saturday afternoon working, although killing time might be a more accurate way to phrase it. They’re still a new shop, and while they see a lot of business in the mornings, their afternoons are still a little slow. He’s cleaned the machines, done the dishes, and wiped down the counters, which leaves him with…..literally nothing to do. His brother is doing something in the back, so he’s posted up at the front, leaning with his elbows on the counter next to the register, idly feeding the fish on his mobile game (it’s not dumb, contrary to what his brother says).

“Excuse me.”

It’s quiet, he really should have heard someone else come in, and while this isn’t some grand corporate monstrosity business that would chew off his head for having down time, he still hates being caught doing something other than exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. His head pops up, an apology on his lips, only-

There is. _Literally_. The most beautiful girl he’s ever seen in his life standing right in front of him.

She doesn’t look very impressed by him, her lips pursed, her elegantly defined brows drawn down in a frown. Her hair is so shiny and soft looking, falling elegantly over one shoulder, and while he’s gaping like an utter neanderthal, she flicks it out of her face with a practiced motion of her head, chin tilting up, and even with the counter between them, Hoseok is pretty sure she’s taller than him.

“Um.”

Her brows go up, the corners of her mouth twitch. “Are you open?”

Fuck. “Yeah, sorry.” Smooth, very smooth. He fumbles his phone into his apron pocket, and taps the screen on the register to wake it up. “What can I get for you?”

The girl doesn’t answer immediately, twisting one of the bracelets she's wearing around her thin wrist as she looks at the menu, unhurried. “One small iced Americano, and a strawberry smoothie.” As she speaks, she digs in her purse (there’s some kind of brand on it, it looks expensive), pulling her wallet out and putting a few bills on the counter.

Hoseok is unreasonably proud of himself for giving her the correct change.

She goes over to sit at a table by the window to wait, pulling her phone out, perusing it, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear idly as she does so.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you?”

Hoseok almost hits the roof, and his brother looks even less impressed than the girl. “Are you gonna make this order or what? I can get the smoothie, if that helps whatever….crisis you’re having.”

Is the smoothie for her, or the Americano? “Uh, yeah, no, thanks, that helps.” Thankfully, this isn’t exactly his first rodeo, he _has_ been working here all summer, and an iced Americano is about as easy as it gets. And yeah, he knows she asked for a small, but he makes a medium instead, because why the fuck not. He’s already embarrassed himself enough for one day, might as well go all the way.

When both drinks are prepared, he puts them on a tray and goes over to the table, where the girl is still waiting, looking out the window as if she’s waiting for someone. Her boyfriend, maybe? God, even though it’s stupid for him to even think about, he hopes not. She looks up when she notices him approach, and thankfully, he doesn’t spill anything when he sets the drinks on her table.

“I ordered a small,” she points out, not sounding particularly unhappy, but merely like she’s pointing out a fact.

“It’s on the house. I made too much,” he explains, doing his best to smile and not look like a flustered mess. “Can I bring you some sugar or cream?” They have small containers of sugar on the tables, but there’s a place at the counter that has a different variety of sweeteners and cream. Customers usually get it themselves, but he’d bring the whole damn counter over if she asked.

Some of that aloofness that seemed to hover around the girl like a cloak fades, and she smiles at him, a quick, blink-and-you-missed-it kind of thing, but it still makes Hoseok’s heart jump up into his throat. “No, I take mine black. But thank you.”

“Y-yeah, of course,” Hoseok stammers, clutching to his tray like a lifeline. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Nodding in clear dismissal, the girl picks up a straw from the container on the table, peeling the wrapper off it and poking it through the plastic lid. Hoseok leaves before he can stand there and watch her drink the coffee he made like some kind of creeper. Yeah, he’s usually kind of bad with girls, he’s too easily flustered and shy although yes, he _knows_ girls are people just like anyone else, but still. This is above and beyond his usual awkwardness. Maybe Venus is in retrograde or whatever horoscope stuff his mom talks about.

Around the time he’s cleaning the counter, again, for something to keep his hands busy, another girl comes into the store. She looks around, eventually laying eyes on the current bane of Hoseok’s existence, and her whole face lights up, hurrying over to the table and plunking down in the seat, already gesticulating wildly as her friend pushes the smoothie towards her, a straw already in the drink. The new girl seems to be talking a mile a minute, animated and clearly excited about something, and the elegant beauty across the table just smiles fondly, nodding every so often in response to whatever tale she’s being told.

Abruptly, though, the new girl whips her head around, her eyes zeroing in on Hoseok like a laser. The beauty next to her also looks at him, that silky indifference settling on her face like a well-fitting glove. It amazes him that her expressions can change so completely so quickly, but he’s a little preoccupied with trying not to sink behind the counter since they’re both just _looking_ at him.

The new girl hops up, absently straightening her short brown hair as she approaches, beaming at Hoseok with the force of the sun. “Hi! Sorry to bug you, but do you have soy milk?”

Uh….is that a trick question? “Yes?” he asks, wondering why his answer comes out as question as well.

“Could we maybe trouble you for a little cup of it?” she asks, her eyes getting a little big, her lips a little pouty. “Hyungwon noticed there wasn’t any in the little marked pitchers up here, and that’s the only stuff she’ll put in her coffee.”

“He doesn’t need my life story,” the other girl, Hyungwon, _Hyungwon_ , says from her table. And yes, yes he does, but he doesn’t say that.

“Yeah, of course, just a second.”

The girl smiles, leaning her hip against the counter, watching as he gets one of their small cups just for espresso, rummaging in the fridge for the carton of soy milk. “This place is new, right? Have you been here long?”

“No, we opened a few months ago,” Hoseok answers, finding the girl’s small talk a little comforting. He’s good at this part, chatting with customers and stuff. “My mom wanted everything opened and settled before my brother and I started school.”

“Oh yeah?” she asks, her expression brightening. “Maybe we’ll end up at the same school. This is actually really close to where Hyungwon and I go. I’m Minhyuk, by the way.”

“Hoseok. Nice to meet you,” he says, pouring a little of the soy milk into the cup he sat out, handing it to Minhyuk. Hyungwon has her phone out on the table again, but she’s watching both of them, her gaze lazily curious. “Can I get you anything else?”

“Nope, this should do it,” Minhyuk says, picking up the milk and beaming at him. “It was nice to meet you, Hoseok! We’ll see you around, hopefully.”

_We_. That would be great. What school does he need to apply to? Has he already applied to it by a sheer twist of fate?

Luckily, a few other customers come in, distracting him from the two girls who have resumed their quiet chat, Hyungwon’s iced Americano a creamy caramel color now that she’s added the milk to it, Minhyuk’s gestures still exaggerated but a little less wild. In fact, he completely forgets about them for a while, until he sees them stand up out of the corner of his eyes, throwing away their trash on their way out the door. Minhyuk notices his gaze and waves, a cute little wiggle of her fingers.

Hyungwon is checking something on her phone, pushing her hair behind her ear, but she looks up when Minhyuk stops walking, her eyes meeting Hoseok’s as she gives him a little smile. Much less exuberant than Minhyuk’s, but it makes his stomach flip like a pancake, his heart fluttering, and wow.

He’s _so gone_.


	2. once is chance, twice is something else

On his first day at his new school, Hoseok befriends Son Hyunwoo. In what honestly might be the weirdest, romantic-cliche way possible.

Which is funny, because this is definitely a friendship between bros, not romantic at all, but that doesn’t change the fact that he caught a football that someone in the courtyard threw _very poorly_ in the direction of Hyunwoo’s head. Which, naturally, Hyunwoo found hilarious while also being simultaneously thankful that he didn’t end up with a black eye on the first day of school.

Hoseok is starting to wonder if maybe his whole life is turning into one big drama trope.

They aren’t in the same year (Hyunwoo is older than him), but their classrooms are right next to each other, so they end up kind of loitering in the hallway together between classes, with Hoseok doing most of the talking, but it....kind of works. Hyunwoo is huge, a little taller than him, broad, but a complete and total teddy bear. His phone case has a photo of a puppy on it, for god’s sake. And Hoseok likes the juxtaposition, because neither of them are as scary as they seem, and it means that while people give them a wide berth when they’re walking to class, Hoseok is showing him cat videos on Instagram and Hyunwoo is loving every second of it.

Additionally, they’re both athletes, and while Hoseok prefers tae kwon do to any organized team sport, he can’t resist when Hyunwoo asks him to join the soccer team whenever tryouts start (it’s not quite soccer season yet). He likes being active, Hyunwoo is like, his one friend, so of course he’s going to say yes.

It’s promising. When he told his friends at his old school that he was moving, Seokwon had reassured him that he’s not nearly as bad at making friends as he likes to think he is, which wasn’t immediately reassuring because Seokwan dumped yogurt in his hair when they met in like, third grade, but they’re still friends, so that’s what counts, right?

What’s _not_ promising, though, is that there’s been no sign of Hyungwon.

Of course, since the upperclassmen have their classes on the top floor of the school, if Hyungwon even goes to the same school, she might be younger than him, in which case it’s likely they just haven’t passed each other. She’d been pretty enough, regal looking enough, he wonders if she goes to a private, all-girl’s school, where they have like, tea ceremonies and flower arranging and shit.

(He knows nothing about girl’s schools.)

She hasn’t been back to the coffee shop either, which makes him feel....slightly humiliated. It’s just a coffee shop, it’s only been a couple weeks, it’s really not that big a deal. But still. It makes Hoseok feel like he made a fool of himself, and the real reason Minhyuk came over to ask for soy milk was to size him up for herself before going back to their table to laugh at the stupid barista who was falling all over himself for someone way out of his league.

But other than a little bit of premature heartbreak, things are good. School has been in for about a week, and Hoseok is falling into the routine nicely, getting up early in the morning to go for a jog before he gets ready for school, showing up a little early so he and Hyunwoo have time to hang out and talk before going their separate ways. Some classes are better than others, some are really awful just like they were at his old school, and even things that are different are the same. High school is still high school, no matter what town you’re in or who you’re with.

Shoving his books into his desk, Hoseok is about to get up and go next door to grab Hyunwoo to go eat lunch when the door to the classroom slides open, and there’s a girl standing there he's never seen before, her short brown hair pulled into cute little pigtails with a white headband keeping her bangs in order. None of this would be notable (half the student population is girls) if it weren’t for the question she called into the slowly emptying room.

“Son Hyunwoo?”

Son Hyunwoo is very much not in the room, so she makes eye contact with the first person who happens to be looking at the door (him) and asks, “Is he in here?”

“Next door,” Hoseok answers, getting to his feet and patting his pocket to make sure he has his phone and his wallet with him. “That’s where I’m headed, actually.”

The girl looks a little embarrassed, but also annoyed. “They changed the room numbers this year,” she mutters, lingering at the doorway until Hoseok reaches her. “Are you Hoseok?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” he says lightly, which at least makes her smile.

“Hyunwoo mentioned that he’s been spending a lot of time with a guy in the class next to his named Hoseok. Unless there’s another Hoseok in this class, I’m pretty sure that’s you,” she says, smiling and stepping aside, the two of them moving down the hallway together at a leisurely pace. She’s shorter than him, and has a really cute eyesmile when she beams at him. “I’m Kihyun.”

Ah, Hyunwoo’s girlfriend. Hoseok remembers his friend mentioning that his girlfriend was on student council as well as in the choir, which meant she was incredibly busy during school hours as well as before and after school. She and Hyunwoo mostly spent time together in the evenings or on weekends, so it makes sense they haven’t met yet. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Hoseok says, returning her smile; it’s quite contagious. “Hyunwoo has told me a lot about you.”

That seems to absolutely tickle her pink, and she plays with the end of one of her pigtails as she laughs. “Only good things, I hope! Our meeting today got cancelled, the president is out for family stuff, so I wanted to take the opportunity to eat lunch with him and the girls. You’re welcome to come join us too, of course!”

He’s familiar with Hyunwoo, of course, but not “the girls”. As far as he’s aware, Hyunwoo’s friends mostly consist of other guys on various sports teams. He’s met Jooheon, who’s a year younger than him and two years younger than Hyunwoo, a member of the soccer team and also the president of some independent club. It was just mentioned once in passing, but he’s pretty sure it’s like, a hip hop club or something. Which sounds awesome, but so not something he can do. He can barely talk without a lisp as it is.

“Sure, that would be great. I don’t know if Hyunwoo mentioned it, but I’m new in town, so I’m still trying to form my social circle,” he admits sheepishly.

“Don’t worry about it, they’re both great, I think you’ll get along with them,” Kihyun reassures, opening the door to the classroom and smiling brightly when she sees Hyunwoo seated next to the door, apparently preoccupied with his phone. “Surprise!” she greets.

Hyunwoo’s head snaps up, and he smiles this big, dumb, goofy grin, and honestly Hoseok just wants to coo at both of them. They’re adorable, officially. Slipping his phone into the pocket of his blazer, Hyunwoo gets up and shuffles over to them, forgoing a hug (Hoseok doesn’t peg Hyunwoo as the type to be comfortable with public displays of affection) and instead carefully smooths Kihyun’s hair down around her headband despite the fact that it had seemed perfectly in place before.

“Thought you had student council,” he says.

“Cancelled,” she explains, much more simply than when she’d told the same thing to Hoseok. “Do you want to come eat lunch? I invited Hoseok too.”

Hyunwoo seems to only just then notice that he’s there, grinning at the two of them like he’s watching his favorite prime time drama, and the older boy blushes, shoving at Hoseok’s shoulder. “Stop looking so smug or you can’t come,” he grumbles.

“What? You two are so cute,” he gushes.

Kihyun looks pleased with this, laughing and threading her arm through Hyunwoo’s, her hand resting comfortably in the crook of his elbow. “Why thank you,” she says sincerely. “We are a cute couple, aren’t we?”

Hyunwoo opts to stay silent and blush harder.

“C’mon, they got that spot under the big tree in the courtyard,” Kihyun says, tugging her boyfriend along as she starts walking. The hallway is a little narrow, which means Hoseok has to follow behind them like a baby duckling, but he doesn’t mind. It’s not like he has any idea where they’re going.

Kihyun takes them down the stairs and around to the courtyard that’s in the middle of the school building. Honestly, he likes the way this school has been built, like a big, blocky U shape with a huge courtyard in the middle. There are lots of benches and trees and places for students to hang out without being stuck inside all the time. As they walk, Kihyun seems to be chattering about something from one of her classes, Hyunwoo listening earnestly and nodding every so often to show that he’s paying attention, and Hoseok can’t help but note how interesting it is that the two seem so very, very different but also complement each other perfectly.

It’s warm outside, so as soon as they exit the air-conditioned safety of the school building, Hoseok sheds his blazer, folding it over his arm and loosening his tie as they walk across the courtyard. There’s a big tree in the middle of it, surrounded by little wooden benches on all sides, allowing students to take advantage of the shade while they eat or languish their existence or whatever high schoolers do when they aren't in class.

And sitting on one of those benches is Hyungwon.

Hoseok almost plows right into Kihyun when she pauses to wave at her and Minhyuk, who is sitting next to Hyungwon and absently braiding a small section of her long, wavy brown hair. There are two lunch boxes sitting next to Hyungwon, but neither have been opened; it looks like they’re waiting for other people to join them.

He’s other people.

Well, not just him, but him and Kihyun and Hyunwoo.

Hyungwon looks up from the book in her lap and meets his eyes. Hoseok almost swallows his fucking tongue.

“Hoseokie!” Minhyuk greets, just as cheerful as that day at the coffee shop, tugging Hyungwon closer to her as she scoots towards the far side of the bench. “Sit, sit! You can move our lunches, how have you been? It’s been a while!”

“Excuse you,” Kihyun says, looking rather affronted. “I’m the other member of this threesome, I usually sit on the bench.” She arches an eyebrow, looking between Minhyuk and Hoseok, who resembles a tomato as he stands there, paralyzed. “And “Hoseokie”?” Kihyun does air quotes around his name.

“ _Sit_ ,” Minhyuk says, insistently, the smile disappearing from her face.

“Yes ma’am,” Hoseok squeaks, hurriedly moving the lunch boxes (what does he do with them, fuck, he’s just gonna hold them) and sitting in the empty spot next to Hyungwon.

“We met Hoseokie at the new cafe, the one where that restaurant used to be?” Minhyuk continues to explain, smiling as if she didn’t just turn into some sort of witch for approximately three seconds to get him to do what she wanted. “Momo Coffee. His family owns it.”

“I keep meaning to stop by there,” Kihyun says, looking interested. “How was it?”

Hoseok has absolutely zero interest in this conversation, especially when Hyungwon looks at him, her lightly glossed lips turned up in a small smile. “You okay?”

No. “She’s terrifying,” he whispers.

That at least makes her laugh, her head tossed back, loud and distinctly not the proper little giggle he was expecting from someone who looks like the textbook definition of “lady”. “Yeah, she does that,” Hyungwon says, her laughter fading into something that can only be described as a chuckle. “Don’t worry, though. She’s decided she likes you, so you don’t have to fear for your life. Just don’t make her mad.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Hoseok says, and thank god, it's a little easier to talk to her in the company of others, when he isn’t obligated to act and speak a certain way because he’s at work. “Is there something I should avoid doing? So she doesn’t do that?”

“Do what she says the first time,” Hyungwon says sagely. “You haven’t been around long enough to question her complete and total authority.”

“Like you?”

Hyungwon smirks. “Like me.”

“Hyungwon has known me since we were like, infants,” Minhyuk says proudly, wrapping her arms around her friend from behind and nuzzling into her hair. “Our moms took us to the same Mommy and Me class and we’ve been stuck with each other ever since. No one will ever reach her level.”

“You say that now, but just wait until you get a boyfriend,” Hyungwon says, rolling her eyes.

“Or girlfriend,” Minhyuk corrects.

“Or girlfriend,” Hyungwon amends, patting Minhyuk’s hand fondly. “Now get off me, I want to eat.” She turns her attention to Hoseok, almost like she’s daring him to say something about the information contained within that little exchange. “May I have my lunch?”

And no, he doesn’t have anything to say about that. “Here,” he says simply, holding out the two lunches. “I don’t know which is who’s, so I trust you to take the right one.”

Something almost imperceptible softens in Hyungwon’s gaze, and Hoseok feels like he passed some kind of test. A tiny one, or a huge one disguised as a tiny one, and it doesn’t escape him that Kihyun is smiling and Hyunwoo looks almost relieved.

Well. That’s that.

“I think this one is mine,” Hyungwon says, taking the box wrapped in a cute, pink handkerchief with a strawberry pattern.

“No you don’t,” Minhyuk says, trying to reach around Hyungwon to seize the box, but Hyungwon uses her height to twist out of the other girl’s reach. “Hyungwon! You know that’s mine!”

“Well yeah, but your mom packs better lunches,” Hyungwon says, grinning at Hoseok as she starts unwrapping the box. “And I’m hungrier than you, so.”

“That’s because you’re a pig,” Kihyun says, having settled on the grass next to Hyunwoo, who apparently is a walking, talking romance trope and gave her his blazer to sit on so her skirt wouldn’t get dirty. “Your metabolism is going to run out one of these days, Chae, and you’ll have to eat like the rest of us.”

“Not if she looks like her mom,” Hoseok points out helpfully. “Not that I’ve, uh, met her, but. Metabolism is one of those things that has a lot to do with genetics, like height.”

“And my mom is gorgeous,” Hyungwon says smugly, popping open the lid to the lunch box and pulling out a piece of kimbap with her fingers, shoving it into her mouth in the most unladylike way possible. Minhyuk screeches like a banshee in anger.

“You’re a good man, Hoseok,” Hyungwon says, her mouth only about half empty, and she holds out a piece of kimbap to him. Minhyuk looks about seconds from literally strangling Hyungwon with the ribbon around her neck, and when she looks at him, he remembers very vividly what Hyungwon said about staying on her good side.

He eats the kimbap without even thinking twice.

(She socks him in the arm hard enough that he has a bruise for a week, but Hyungwon grins at him every time she sees him in the hallway, and that’s worth a thousand bruises.)


	3. family matters, the first

Once Hoseok realizes that Hyungwon goes to his school, it’s like he sees her _everywhere_.

At least part of that is his own doing, because he finds plenty of excuses to go down to the first floor between classes. He tells Hyunwoo that the bathroom on the first floor is cleaner and less crowded, and the older boy just nods and looks like he doesn’t believe him at all. But at least he doesn’t push him and lets him do his own thing, which is walk right by Hyungwon and Minhyuk’s classroom twice a day. If they aren’t loitering around outside, he doesn’t bother them, but if they are, Minhyuk always pulls him in with a happy cry of “Hoseokie!”, and he almost always ends up being late to his next class as a result.

But it’s worth it, because Hyungwon always ends up standing next to him, her perfume some intoxicating mix of floral and musk, body close enough to his in the crush of the hallway to feel the warmth she seems to radiate like an oven. Sometimes she doesn’t talk much, her expression broody, her gaze mostly captivated by her phone, and sometimes, she asks after his tests or assignments, asks about how things are going at the shop, or she and Minhyuk rant furiously about one of their teachers or some jerk they ran into in the hallway. All of them are things he enjoys, just in different ways.

He also realizes that he could have been aware of Hyungwon a lot sooner, but he’s so hopelessly detached from any and everything that he had no hope of realizing that people talk about her _all the time_. Just not by name. Like himself and Hyunwoo, people give Hyungwon a wide berth in the hallway, and people always seem to be watching her whenever Hoseok sees her walking from the home economics classroom back to her homeroom. Everyone calls her the Ice Princess, probably due to how aloof her resting face is (“she seriously has the worst case of resting bitch face I’ve ever seen,” he overheard someone say once, before he realized the Ice Princess was Hyungwon, and now he wishes he’d punched them in the face), and Hyungwon doesn’t seem to really care. There’s no way she hasn’t noticed.

And the reason everyone at school knows who she is doesn’t entirely stem from the fact that she’s gorgeous, and icy, and doesn’t spend time with anyone outside her little cluster of friends.

No, she’s a model too.

It’s study hall, which means most people aren’t actually studying, and a cluster of boys (with a few girls) are pouring over a magazine, flipping pages quickly in search of something.

“Do you even know what the ad is for?” one of the boys asks.

The girl who’s desk they’re gathered around scoffs. “Does it matter? You can spot that turtle smile instantly.”

“Who says she’s smiling? She doesn’t smile in like, half her ads,” another girl points out. “That’s the _point_. You can’t look all sweet and happy for every concept, god.”

“Stop, stop, there she is.”

There’s a rustle of activity, people leaning closer, girls chatting about face shape and lipstick color while the boys make appreciative sounds. Curious, Hoseok pops out his earbuds and moves around, looking over the girl’s shoulder. “What are we looking at?” he asks, managing to squeeze himself in so he’s standing right behind the person sitting at the desk.

When the girl looks back at him, he recognizes it as Suhyun, who is one of like three people in the class at the moment currently sitting in their assigned desk. “Oh, just a print ad,” she explains, her round cheeks tinged with pink. “Hyungwon mentioned to me that she just shot for something that was going to be in this month’s issue, some kind of perfume ad.”

Hoseok leans closer (which makes Suhyun blush more, but he’s not paying attention), his gaze zeroing in on the sweet pink colors of the glossy magazine advertisement. Hyungwon looks as disarming and soft as he’s ever seen her, her hair loose and wavy, clad in a white linen dress and holding a messy bundle of wildflowers in her arms. Her head is tilted just so, her lips tilted up in a soft smile, and he literally feels his heart skip several beats. (That can’t be healthy.)

“Oh,” he says, sounding a little strangled. “I didn’t know she modeled.”

“Her mom knows people,” someone else says. “Or, at least, that’s what I heard. She just does it for like, pocket money. Not that she needs it, her family is fucking loaded.” Someone elbows the speaker, probably about their language, and he makes a pained noise. “Sorry.”

Wow, so not only is he outclassed by her, he’s _literally_ outclassed by her. Cool.

Hoseok returns to his desk, slumping forward and resting his head on his open textbook. No one else is paying any attention to him, so he lets out a miserable groan, fighting the urge to just slide under his desk. Why, why, _why_ did it have to be Hyungwon? Beautiful, funny, untouchable Hyungwon, who has reportedly never had a boyfriend in her life and isn’t very nice when she turns people down. Hyungwon, who shoved an entire rice ball in her mouth one time at lunch and looks so _delighted_ any time Hoseok helps back her up when she’s giving Minhyuk a hard time. Hyungwon, who sometimes stands so close their shoulders brush, and doesn’t move away.

“You’re kind of out of your league, lover boy.”

Hoseok lifts his head, looking behind him at the boy in the desk behind him. Right. It’s that weird kid, the one who skipped like two grades and is in Hoseok’s class despite being two years younger than the rest of them. He almost never talks to anyone, and spends all his time with his nose in a book, his brown hair messy and his huge glasses perpetually slipping down his nose.

“What?”

“You know, with Dodo.”

Okay, _who_? “ _What_?”

Changkyun heaves a huge sigh, pushing his glasses up on his nose and looking at Hoseok like he’s the most unimpressive thing he’s ever seen. “Dodo. Chae Hyungwon.”

Hoseok’s eyes narrow a little. “Why are you calling her Dodo?”

Changkyun cracks a smile, but it’s the kind of smile that makes it look like he’s laughing at a joke that Hoseok missed. “Because she’s kind of dumb, hyung. Her grades are subpar at best, but if her dad didn’t practically own the school, she’d be a lot worse off than she is.”

This little- “You know she’s technically your upperclassman too, you know. You’re being really, really rude.” And yeah, Hoseok is a big, fluffy teddy bear just like Hyunwoo, at least until you start trying to start shit with the people he cares about. He may be harboring the hugest crush in existence on Hyungwon, but she’s also his _friend_.

The boy just squints at him. “It’s not rude if it’s the truth.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how manners work.” How much trouble is he gonna get in if he just flips the kid out of his chair? At his old school, Gunhee was the muscle, but Gunhee isn’t here and Hoseok is definitely doing that thing where he sets his jaw, which makes the muscle there jump, and according to his brother, it’s kind of scary.

Changkyun holds his hands up as if in surrender. “I was just _saying_. You’re in way over your head. Like, way way way in over your head.”

“There’s not a _thing_ , like, between us, for me to be in over my head with.” Technically true. “So butt out, maybe, okay? And work on your manners, your mom can’t have raised you to talk to your upperclassmen like this.”

Changkyun mutters something under his breath, but Hoseok doesn’t pay attention to it, and immediately turns around, putting his earbuds in so he can distract himself from the feeling suspiciously like protective anger bubbling in his chest.

That’s probably exactly why he brings it up at lunch that day.

It’s raining, so they’re eating in one of the spare classrooms, their desks all pushed together with various food items sitting out for them to share (except Minhyuk, who is guarding her lunchbox with the jealousy of a tiger).

“Hey, do you know that super smart kid?” Hoseok asks, making Hyungwon look up from her food with a delicately arched eyebrow. “Im Changkyun?”

Her eyes narrow immediately, and her lips twist like she’s eaten something sour. “Why?”

Hoseok rubs the back of his neck, grimacing. “He was just, saying some stuff to me during study hall today, and I wanted to know if he had a problem with you-”

“What did he say?” she demands, putting her chopsticks down.

“Uh, he called you....what was it, it was weird, um....Dodo?”

Hyungwon stands up so fast her chair almost falls over, which startles Minhyuk. “What-”

“ _I’m gonna kill him_.”

She’s gone in a flurry of long brown hair and plaid, leaving Hoseok, as well as Hyunwoo and Jooheon, gaping.

“Dude, what-” Jooheon starts.

“She really is gonna kill him,” Minhyuk says, sighing as she eats another bite of rice. “Changkyun is her baby cousin.”

_Oh._

“They uh, bicker a lot, which is why she probably didn’t mention it,” Minhyuk explains, seemingly unbothered by the way the three boys are staring at her. “Her mom is his dad’s big sister, I think?”

Around that time, Hyungwon re-enters the room, hauling Changkyun in by the arm. As soon as the door closes behind her, she has him in a headlock, knocking his glasses off his face and straight into the floor. “Ow, _ow_ , noona I said I was sorry-”

“No, you don’t owe me an apology, I know how much you like messing with me.” Hyungwon at least doesn’t step on his glasses and steps around them as she drags him closer to Hoseok. “Apologize. Now.”

“But noona-”

Hyungwon shakes him.

Next to Hoseok, Jooheon is trying not to utterly lose his shit. “Hey there, Changkyun.”

It definitely looks a little awkward, but Changkyun manages to crane his head up enough to spot Jooheon, and promptly turns like eight different shades of red. “Uh, hey man.”

“I’m sorry, did all that time abroad make you forget Korean? Do I need to say it in English? Apologize.” Even though it’s obvious that Hyungwon is less than thrilled with her cousin, there’s also an angry red blush on her cheeks. She and Changkyun look like a pair of tomatoes.

“I’m sorry,” Changkyun rushes to say. “I was just pulling Hyungwon’s pigtails, okay? We used to call her that when she was little and I know she hates being called that so-”

“Who would _like_ being called Dodo?” Hoseok interrupts.

“Don't, don't even say it, it's like a virus, half the school will start before I know it," Hyungwon hisses.

“Anyways, I’m sorry, noona didn’t want me to go around advertising that we were family for, well, obvious reasons,” Changkyun continues, making a face. “So it probably sounded like, extra rude.”

“No, pretty sure calling someone dumb is the same amount of rude whether or not they’re related," Hoseok sighs.

Hyungwon releases Changkyun and goes to sit back down in her seat, huffing unhappily, her face still a blotchy shade of red, her expression tight and unhappy.

“And I’m sorry, noona, for being a jerk. You know I love you,” he continues, although he looks like he’s eaten a lemon to say it. Being a teenager and saying “I love you” to a family member in front of a bunch of strangers is never fun, Hoseok will give him that.

“Work on your sense of humor, brat,” she grumbles. “I love you too.”

“Well, that was lovely and awkward,” Minhyuk says, clapping her hands together. “Changkyunnie, get a chair and sit down, you might as well.”

“How do you know Jooheon?” Hyunwoo asks curiously as the boy does as he’s told, grabbing a chair and pulling it up to sit next to the boy in question.

“He’s in my club,” Jooheon says, beaming at Changkyun with the full force of his lethal dimples. “Do you guys know how _good_ his English is? Seriously, he raps so well.”

“Ohhh, you’re a rapper?” Minhyuk asks, looking curious, leaning closer over the table as Changkyun laughs shyly, reaching up to mess with his glasses only to realize he’s not wearing them anymore. He hurries to retrieve them before he can forget them completely.

It doesn’t escape Hoseok’s notice that for the duration of their lunch period, Hyungwon is much quieter than she usually is, eating her lunch slowly, expression unreadable. When it’s time for them to leave and go back to class, she follows Minhyuk out and doesn’t say bye to them. Something about that doesn’t sit right with him, especially considering she went out of her way to avoid eye contact with him, which is fucking weird since she was sitting right across from him.

So he does something he’s never done before. When she’s not outside her classroom during the break between classes, he pokes his head in. He doesn’t even have to say anything, Minhyuk’s eyes zero in on him almost eerily fast, and she makes kind of a weird gesture, pointing to herself, then Hyungwon, then waving between both of them really fast. Then she shrugs, holding her palms out and upwards, tilting her head to the side in obvious question.

Hoseok points at Hyungwon.

Minhyuk smiles the most cheshire cat smile Hoseok has ever seen and nudges Hyungwon, who looks up from her phone and then back over her shoulder at Hoseok. He makes a beckoning gesture, which nets him a slightly annoyed look. It makes his stomach feel like it’s full of snakes, but he doesn’t back down, and stands there in the doorway expectantly. Eventually, with a sigh so big it’s visible, she gets to her feet, not even bothering to put her blazer back on as she pushes past him and out into the hallway.

“What?” she asks, tersely.

“Um, about earlier-”

Hyungwon pinches the bridge of her nose, like Hoseok’s mom does sometimes when she’s getting a headache. “Can we not, maybe?”

“No, that’s not.” Now it’s Hoseok’s turn to heave a huge sigh, carding his fingers through his hair and probably making it stand up all weird. “I just. I wanted to say.” God, why does his tongue feel like it’s three sizes too big any time he tries to talk to Hyungwon. “None of us took what Changkyun said to heart.”

“What, that I’m _dumb_?” Hyungwon says, her tone bitter, her eyes slightly narrowed.

“Um. Yeah. Or just, any of it. Minhyuk obviously didn't, she seemed like she's met him before and like, doesn't take him too seriously. And Hyunwoo and Jooheon aren’t like that, they’re good guys and for one, they wouldn’t judge someone based on something dumb like that. And for two, it’s like, obviously a family thing, y’know? Like, my brother says to me all the time that my muscles got too big for my brain, and I’m stupider now than I was when I was skinny. It’s just. _Family_ , y’know? And, you didn't look _upset_ , but just. Embarrassed. And I understand that, but. You don't have to be. We get it.”

The more he babbles, the more Hyungwon’s face seems to smooth, going from annoyed and unhappy to just...nothing, unreadable. Icy. “What about you?”

That makes his speech stumble to a stop, his brain feeling like he missed a step on the stairs. “What....about me?”

Hyungwon tilts her head to the side slightly, her hair cascading like a wave about her face. Honestly, Hoseok isn’t sure when she’s the most beautiful, but he thinks she’s stunning smiling and holding flowers as well as when she’s looking at him like a difficult puzzle.=.

“You mentioned Jooheon and Hyunwoo not taking what Changkyun said to heart, because they’re good guys,” she says, and her voice is....odd. “What kind of guy are _you_?”

Oh, god. He can literally feel himself break into a cold sweat, because what kind of guy _is_ he? “The kind that doesn’t really care about that shit anyways,” he says after just a moment of silence. “Smart, not smart, it’s just.....they’re just words. There’s a thousand different ways to be smart, so who cares? Everyone is smart in their own ways. And I try to be a good guy, but. I don’t know how good a job I do.” A helpless shrug follows this statement. "I just...wanted to make sure you're okay," he finishes rather lamely.

Hyungwon’s face seems to melt, that unreadability giving way to something that looks suspiciously like fondness. “You do a great job,” she says quietly. Folding one of her arms over her stomach, she brushes her hair behind her ear. “Thank you, Hoseok.”

There is nothing, _nothing_ sweeter than the soft way she says his name. “O-of course.”

When she slips by him to go back into her classroom, she reaches up and squeezes his bicep lightly, smiling in a way he’s never seen before, almost like the girl in the advertisement but more real, a little more awkward, a little more uneven and self-conscious, but it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changkyun isn't really a jerk, I swear. More like he has an odd sense of humor and is also very sick of people being super into his cousin. Additionally, this chapter is called "family matters, the first" and will be the first in what will probably be several installations that feature members of Hyungwon's family. Part "the second" may not immediately follow this one, so don't feel like you're reading out of order if the one after this isn't "part two". Additionally, this is the last of the chapters that are reposts; everything from here on will be new. Thanks as always for reading!
> 
> You can now follow me on [Tumblr](https://dreamydays1.tumblr.com/).


	4. shot through the heart

xxx-xxxx  
where do you live

Hoseok is currently sitting at his desk, trying and failing rather spectacularly to focus on his English homework, when the text comes. Instead of working, he's been spending most of his time dicking around in the group chat he has with his friends at his old school, and he was expecting another stupid meme from Seokwan when he picked up the phone, not something weird and cryptic and quite frankly scary when he picked it up.

 

[stop messing with the chat name you fuckwads]

Tokki-hyung  
guys i just got a creepy text from an unknown number

Yoonhohoho  
your definition of creepy and a normal person's definition of creepy are entirely different

Tokki-hyung  
just call me a wuss and shut up

Yoonhohoho  
wuss

Minnie-kyun  
wuss

#GUN  
wuss

Tokki-hyung  
gunhee you've been gone all day did you seriously come back just to call me a wuss

#GUN  
yes

Tokki-hyung  
i'm leaving

Minnie-kyun  
nooooo you've gotta tell us about your text first  
did you answer them?

Tokki-hyung  
of course i didn't!!!  
it just says "where do you live"

Yoonhohoho  
okay i retract my earlier statement, that's kind of weird

Minnie-kyun  
ask who it is first, maybe it's someone from school or smth

Tokki-hyung  
but i already have all my friend's numbers  
i can't call the cops about a weird text message tho so i guess i'll ask

#GUN  
please don't call the cops

 

Hoseok isn't going to call the fucking cops, his personality in no way matches his muscular exterior, but it's just a dumb text message.  It's very possible that it could be someone from school, although if they aren't close enough for him to already have his number, there is no way in hell he's gonna tell them where he lives.  


Shin Hoseok  
who is this?

xxx-xxxx  
hyungwon

Oh.  He literally feels his stomach hit the floor.

[Save xxx-xxxx as Hyungwon?]

Shin Hoseok  
oh sorry, i don't have you saved on my phone  
uh  
how did you get my number?  i would have given it to you if you asked

Hyungwon  
minhyuk got it from hyunwoo  
sorry  
i know it's kind of weird

Shin Hoseok  
no no no  
it's fine!!!!  
like i said, i would have given it to you  
is everything okay though?

  
For a little while, there's nothing, and his group chat keeps pinging him to try and find out what's going on with the mysterious phone number, and Gunhee is already saying he's probably been axed, but they can wait.

  
Hyungwon  
i stayed behind after dance class on my own to work on some stuff by myself  
and there's a guy hanging around right outside the entrance  
i can't leave  


There's another pause  
  
Hyungwon  
minhyuk told me you didn't live too far away  
i just thought  
  
Hoseok shuts his notebook and gets up.  He's wearing sweatpants and some ratty t-shirt that he usually sleeps in, but he just pulls a hoodie on over it and hustles downstairs.  His mom is in the kitchen, and she sticks her head out when she hears him shoving his shoes on and grabbing a beanie from the little table they have near the front door.  
  
"Hoseok, where are you going at this hour?" she asks, drying her hands on a dish towel as she talks.  
  
"Just to the corner market," he says, smiling reassuringly.  "I'm feeling snackish and I wanna get some chips or something."  
  
"Okay, just don't be gone for too long."  With two growing sons, she's used to them being half starved at any given moment in time, and so long as they aren't eating her out of house and home and still eat three meals a day, she lets them snack when they want and doesn't complain.  Hoseok is built like a brick house, and his brother has some crazy metabolism that keeps him like a beanpole.  
  
"I won't," he promises, snagging his keys and giving her a little wave before slipping out the front door.  


  
Shin Hoseok  
text me the address  
i'm on my way

 

As he walks in the direction his map app is telling him to, there are several thoughts running through Hoseok's mind.  
  
1\. Why is Hyungwon all the way out here?  
  
It's not like he lives in a shitty area of town or anything, but Hyungwon is, as their classmates like to say, "fucking loaded".  If she's at dance class, surely to god she's at one of those ballet academies in Gangnam or something, not out here.  
  
2\. If she's so loaded, why doesn't she just call her driver to come get her?  
  
Surely that's easier and less embarrassing than having to text a classmate to walk her out.  Not that Hoseok minds, far from, and it's not as if he knows much about her family situation.  Her father owns the school, her mother is some kind of supermodel, and that's the extent of his knowledge.  But he knows he isn't going to ask her anything about it, because that would just be rude, so instead, he just focuses on jogging to where Hyungwon said she was going to be.  
  
The building is small, a little careworn but not in bad shape, and all the lights are off except for one shining in an upper window.  And sure enough, there's a guy in black loitering near the front door, making it look like he's fiddling with his phone, but every so often, he glances up, looking at the lighted window.  It makes Hoseok grit his teeth, and he stands under the flickering lightpole, shooting a text to Hyungwon to tell her that he's here.  
  
After just a few moments, the lights turn off, which is enough of a cue for Hoseok to approach the door, climbing up the few steps to wait on the landing.  When Hyungwon appears, her expression is slightly pinched, her cheeks red, and she unlocks the door before slipping out, closing it behind her and re-locking it immediately.  It's clear she's been practicing, her long hair tied up in a messy bun at the nape of her neck, her dusty pink sweatpants rolled up to rest under her knees, and he'd reckon the grey shirt she's wearing under her unzipped hoodie is a tank-top.  
  
She looks adorable.  Sporty.  He wants to go punch the guy standing by the bushes for putting even a flicker of fear into her mind.  
  
"Sorry for bothering you so late," she mutters, and now that she's closer, he can see that the blush is on the tips of her ears too.  
  
"Don't worry about it," he says as she puts her keys away and shoulders her bag.  Looking back at the guy, Hoseok puts his arm protectively around Hyungwon's waist, gently guiding her down the stairs and away from the building.  "Are you going to the bus?"  
  
"Yeah."  Although he'd done it just to make it obvious he was going to be continuing on with her and thus Mr. Creeper had no reason to follow them, Hyungwon seems oddly at ease with his arm around her waist, settling in against his side, smelling a little sweeter than her usual perfume makes her, but it's probably her deodorant.  It's nice too.  
  
"Um.  What were you doing out so late?" he asks, curious, although he kind of wants to kick himself for asking.  
  
"My hip hop class," she says, plodding along diligently next to him, but her steps slow until she comes to a stop, forcing Hoseok to stop as well.  Her expression is downcast, her chin tilted towards her chest, and there's something....rigid in her willowy form.  
  
"I'm sorry," Hoseok rushes to say.  "I shouldn't have asked, it's really none of my business-"  
  
"I quit my ballet classes."  Instead of whispery, her tone is stubborn, rebellious.  "My mom drops me off at the academy every afternoon, and I take the bus here, do my classes, practice my routine, and then take the bus back to the academy for her to pick me up there."  
  
It's quiet, the only sound coming from passing cars.  There isn't even any wind.  
  
Hoseok hasn't let go of her waist yet.  
  
"They can't find out," she continues, her tone wavering.  "It's not ballet, my parents wouldn't...but this is the third time some weirdo has been hanging around out here, I practically had to sleep at the studio last time-"  
  
"I'll come pick you up, when you finish at night."  Without realizing it, he's holding onto her a little tighter, and Hyungwon finally looks up at him.  "Just text me when you're done, I'm like, a seven minute walk from here.  I don't work at night, I'm usually at home, so I'll be free.  I don't have a car, or else I'd drive you to the academy myself, but I can at least see you to the bus safely."  
  
The more he talks, the more Hyungwon relaxes, and she nods.  "I don't want to inconvenience you or make trouble for you," she says, but Hoseok immediately waves that comment away.  
  
"I...I get it.  I mean, not totally, but.  This is something you wanna do, right?"  It's obvious, since she's going to such lengths to keep it from her parents.  "So I wanna help, if I can.  Walking you to the bus stop is a small thing."  
  
"It's not small to me," she says quietly, but then she smiles, and Hoseok honest to god almost faints on the sidewalk.  Her smile is still the most beautiful thing he's ever seen in his entire life.  "Um.  Thank you."  
  
"Don't thank me, I'm happy to do it," he says a bit gruffly, and he feels weird to be standing there, not moving, still holding this poor girl about the waist.  With burning cheeks, he lets go, shoving his hands in the pockets of his hoodie to avoid feeling weird.  Still smiling faintly, she starts walking again, and he trails after her like a lovesick puppy.  "So um.  You like dancing?"  
  
It's a dumb question, but it makes her chuckle.  "Yeah," she says, idly fussing with her bun.  "I started ballet as soon as I started walking.  I've always loved it.  My mom says I was dancing before I could even talk."  As she speaks, her expression is warm, fond and open in a way he's completely unfamiliar with.  "But....ballet is so rigid.  It's so structured.  I started to feel like it was suffocating me, and I wanted to explore other dance styles, but....it's not very encouraged when you're on track to be a prima ballerina."  
  
"That's dumb," Hoseok huffs.  "You can still be a ballerina if you decide that's what you want.  Why not take a break and explore other stuff?  It would only strengthen the style you chose to devote yourself to."  
  
Hyungwon looks at him, squinting suspiciously.  "You sound awfully familiar with that idea.  Are you a dancer too?"  
  
That brings a blush back to his cheeks, and he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.  "Not like you are," he mutters.  "I just mess around."  
  
"Do you dance?" she asks, to which he nods, and she makes a noise like that's that.  "So you're a dancer.  Don't argue with me, Shin."  
  
"Yes ma'am," he chuckles, and when they round the corner to the bus stop, he's almost sad to see it.  
  
"I want to see sometime," she says definitively, shifting her bag and looking at him expectantly.  Like she knows just how tied around her finger he is, and god, he _is_.  He'd give her the moon if she asked for.  
  
"Someday, but only if I get to see in return," he says, which makes her heave a huge sigh as if completely put out by the thought, but she nods.  
  
"Seriously.  Thank you," seh says, and he's begining to think that she's worried about him mistaking her usual flippant attitude for ungratefulness.  Someone else might, but that first thank you had been delivered with such quiet, soft vulnerability and sincerity, he couldn't doubt it for a single moment.  "For coming tonight, and offering to come again in the future."  
  
"And seriously.  I'm happy to do it," Hoseok promises, his heart going a thousand miles an hour as they linger under the shitty fluorescent lights of the bus stop.  It's late, he looks like shit, and Hyungwon looks ethereal and glowing, looking those few inches down at him with something....soft in her gaze, her cheeks flushed lightly pink.  Honestly, even after dancing for what must have been hours, she looks like she's ready for a photo shoot.  "Just tell me when you need me again."  His voice is a little lower than usual, caught in his chest, and he clears his throat, trying to dislodge the knot that seems to have settled there.  
  
The bus is pulling up, but Hyungwon doesn't immediately go.  She just stands there, looking at him, her full lips pursed as she contemplates something.  Then, with such softness he's almost convinced he imagined it, she leans in and brushes her lips against his cheek, her long fingers resting momentarily on his shoulder.  She doesn't say anything else, although there's a faint smile tugging at her lips as she turns and boards the bus, leaving Hoseok gaping after her like a beached fish.

  
[stop messing with the chat name you fuckwads]

[Tokki-hyung has changed his name to i got fucking murdered]

#GUN  
HA  
told ya so


End file.
